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Blue Jays get David Price in trade with Tigers

Toronto sends blue-chip prospect Daniel Norris to Detroit to acquire Tigers ace, who is a free agent at season’s end.

Detroit Tigers' David Price goes into his wind up against the Tampa Bay Rays during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chris O'Meara / AP FILE PHOTO)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher David Price reacts after Tampa Bay Rays' Curt Casali hit a solo home run, his second of the game, during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday. (Chris O'Meara / The Associated Press)

SP-JAYS19JULY TORONTO ON - Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price takes to the mound during the first inning against Toronto Blue Jays in July, 2013.
(David Cooper / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Alex Anthopoulos could be forgiven for wanting a little shuteye. The Blue Jays general manager has been baseball’s most active executive in the week leading up to Friday’s trade deadline. So when his counterpart in Detroit, Dave Dombrowski, hadn’t called him back by the end of Wednesday’s game, Anthopoulos decided to head home.

“Figured I’d get a nice, early night’s sleep,” he said.

Fortunately for Jays’ fans, Anthopoulos never got his early night.

Dombrowski eventually called back and, by 3 a.m., Anthopoulos had made another stunning trade, acquiring his second superstar this week in an attempt to end the longest post-season drought in professional sports.

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David Price, the Tigers’ ace lefty, is a game-changer for the Jays, who boast the league’s highest-scoring offence but lacked a front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. Until now.

“We feel we added a No. 1 starter and one of the best starters in the game right now,” Anthopoulos said Thursday in another of what seem like daily news conferences. “... We really haven’t had a true No. 1 since Roy Halladay was here. You kind of forget what that was like.”

With Price, a five-time all-star and among the league’s best half-dozen pitchers over the last five seasons, the Jays — who have not made the playoffs since winning back-to-back World Series in 1992 and ’93 — can now be considered true contenders. Alongside Tuesday’s acquisition of star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Anthopoulos has pulled off two of the biggest trades in franchise history within the same week.

“I did get a text from Jose Bautista with just, ‘Is it true?’” Anthopoulos dished to reporters Thursday in a rare, gleeful moment. “And I said, ‘Yes,’ and he just wrote, ‘Yes’ with about a million exclamation marks.”

But Price, who is a free agent after this season, didn’t come for free, of course. The Jays sent a package of three minor-league pitching prospects the other way, headlined by Daniel Norris, the team’s top prospect and biggest trade chip. The 22-year-old lefty — famous for living in his Volkswagen camper van during spring training — actually broke camp with the Jays this season and made five starts before returning to the minors to refine his mechanics. Joining Norris in the deal are 24-year-old left-hander Matt Boyd, who made two starts for Toronto this year, and Jairo Labourt, a highly touted 21-year-old who represented the Jays in the all-star Futures Game. Both Boyd and Labourt ranked among the team’s top 15 or 20 prospects.

If the Jays fail to make the playoffs this year, there will be much consternation about how much they gave up. While Tulowitzki is under contract through 2020, Price’s time in Toronto could be limited to just a couple of months. Anthopoulos himself said earlier this week he is loathe to give up top prospects — who are under team control through their first six major-league seasons — for short-term rentals. He will make an exception, however, for aces like Price. “They can make you a great team all by themselves,” he said.

The Jays entered Thursday trailing the first-place Yankees by seven games and the second wild-card spot by two. Of their 60 remaining games this season, 13 are against the Yankees with another 13 against the teams ahead of them in the wild-card race. So while Anthopoulos said he doesn’t agree with the concept of going “all in” — “We’re always focused on the short and the long term,” he said — a path to the pos-tseason is clearly in sight.

“We think we’re a good team and adding a guy like Price I think makes us that much stronger and will give us a chance to win,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

This marks the second straight season Price has been dealt at the deadline. The 29-year-old former first overall pick was sent to Detroit last year by the Tampa Bay Rays as part of a three-way deal that cost the Tigers Austin Jackson, Willy Adames and Drew Smyly.

He will likely make his Toronto debut on Sunday, which coincidentally marks his regular five-day turn and is also where the Jays have a rotation opening. And if not Sunday, he would pitch Monday.

David Price's stats:

“Excitement at an all-time high. Get to compete and chill with one of my role models in baseball,” injured starter Marcus Stroman tweeted. “See you in September my man!”

“It’s getting hot up in the six!!” tweeted third baseman Josh Donaldson.

Price is owed roughly $7 million for the remainder of this year, which is about what most observers believe was left over in the Jays’ payroll budget for this season. So with still a few hours left until Friday’s 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline, could Anthopoulos have another move up his sleeve? “We’re not close to anything,” he said. The smaller deals were put on hold while he landed the big fish. “I have to circle back.”

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